Bahia Concha's strip of sand contrasts with the turquoise Caribbean waters, a popular weekend hangout for locals from Santa Marta.

No map is needed to stroll around Cartagena's Old City, where wealthy Colombians have restored block after block of once-decaying colonial townhouses.

No map is needed to stroll around Cartagena's Old City, where wealthy Colombians have restored block after block of once-decaying colonial townhouses.

Monument to independence hero Sim—n Bol’var at San Pedro Alejandrino, a 17th-century villa near the city of Santa Marta. Bol’var died of tuberculosis at the villa in 1830, penniless, alone and fearing assassination.

Street scenes in and around the town of Ciénaga, an unremarkable but typical Caribbean settlement.

Isla de Salamanca National Park encompasses saline marsh, mangrove swamps and a network of lagoons. Local villagers depend for their livelihood on a variety of local fish, such as the mojarra, moncholo and lisa, along with crab, oyster and shrimp.

For a handful of small change, visitors can take a dip in the gloopy mud inside the cone of Volcán de Lodo del Totumo, a mud volcano that rises above saline marshes and swamp east of Cartagena.

Colombia has an estimated 1,900 bird species, including the keel-billed toucan.